Jack the Giant Slayer - (March
1, 2013): PG-13
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Opening Weekend Box Office: #1 with $27,202,226
Domestic Box Office Gross to-date: $44,557,673
Gross Revenue: $67,157,673
Production Budget: $195 million
Director: Bryan
Singer
Originally titled “Jack the Giant Killer,” Warner
Bros. wisely decided to re-position its newest release with a more
family-friendly pitch, and so, there was significant hope that Jack the Giant Slayer would capture the
imaginations of audiences both young and old.
Hearing “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum” in the trailer was an effective nostalgic
attention-grabber, and even though they weren’t the main focus of promotions, I
was impressed with the talented supporting cast; especially Ewan McGregor, who
hasn’t been seen in a mainstream blockbuster since 2009’s Angels & Demons. And
yet, since it represented the first true big-budget popcorn flick after the
notoriously slow February box office, I was surprised that the marketing
strategy for this March release didn’t try more to make a battle with giants
the must-see cinematic event of the spring.
Yes, there were partnerships with the National Wildlife Federation and
coffee beaneries (magic beans…get it?), but awareness of the Carl’s Jr.
cross-promotion was non-existent, and the truth is that, leading up to release,
I shouldn’t have been able to turn a corner without seeing the giants as action
figures or prequel book tie-ins. Something
had to be done to bring the classic fairy tale back to the attention of this
current generation of children, so that they too would fill theaters with those
who grew up with the tale as a bedtime story…for instance, I would have
negotiated with Disney to ensure that the Mickey version of “Jack and the
Beanstalk” was a hyped presence on children’s networks. I have no problem in admitting that I was
excited for Jack the Giant Slayer,
but as early reviews and ticket sales began rolling-in, it didn’t look my enthusiasm
was as shared as studio executives might have hoped.
Beginning in exposition, Jack the Giant Slayer first details the ancient legend of King Erik
of Cloister, a brave ruler who defeated an army of giants using a magic crown
and banished them to a sky realm only accessible by a giant beanstalk that was
grown from magic beans; after the beanstalk was cut down, both the crown and
beans were thought lost forever. Shift
focus to the reality of Jack (Nicholas Hoult), a struggling farmhand who goes
into town to sell his horse, only to both meet and form a bond with the young
Princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson), while also losing the horse to a fleeing
monk who is only able to offer beans as collateral. The princess is unhappy because she is being
forced into an arranged marriage with the conniving Lord Roderick (Stanley
Tucci) by her father, King Brahmwell (Ian McShane), so she decides to flee the
safety of the castle, eventually seeking refuge at Jack’s farm. As it begins to rain, the leaky roof causes
one of the beans to get wet, at which point a giant beanstalk shoots into the
sky, trapping Isabelle in the heavens and leaving Jack behind and bewildered;
explaining the situation to the king, Jack volunteers alongside Roderick and
the kingdom’s royal guards, led by Elmont (Ewan McGregor), to climb the
beanstalk and rescue the princess.
Though Roderick clearly has a hidden agenda during the mission, a far
greater problem emerges when giants appear led by the ruthless Fallon (Bill
Nighy), only to kidnap Isabelle, kill a majority of the rescue party, and vow
to conquer humanity. Realizing that all
the legends from his childhood are true, Jack must use his wits to save the
princess and protect the kingdom from the largest threat it has ever faced.
It may rely a little too heavily on fairy tale cliché
to drive its narrative, but the truth is that Jack the Giant Slayer is still a fun and imaginative adventure that
grabs your attention and doesn’t let go until the closing credits begin to
roll. When I first saw the trailer for
this contemporized fairy tale, I was a little put-off by the special effects
used for the giants, but as it turns out, the larger-than-life villains represent
the most entertaining element of the film; the goofy individual personalities
are a great parallel to their threatening nature, Bill Nighy nails his
performance as an engaging villain, and the climactic battle is nothing short
of epic. In terms of the titular hero, I
really enjoyed Nicholas Hoult as the charming underdog hero; his reactions of
wonder/horror to the giants are believable, while the on-screen chemistry he
shares with Eleanor Tomlinson is genuinely sweet. Add those elements to the gorgeous
environments, and the thoroughly witty ending that helps to both solidify and
modernize the fairy tale, and Jack the
Giant Slayer represents an entertaining adventure that matches the charm of
its source material. Unfortunately,
between the underuse of some of the bigger names within the cast and the
somewhat sluggish first act of the narrative, this fantasy adventure makes some
blatant missteps that hamper the total fulfillment of the film’s potential.
In reintroducing the elements of “Jack and the
Beanstalk” to the current generation, it can be argued that Giant Slayer’s exposition-heavy opening
was a bit of a necessary evil, but defaulting to ancient clichés when you
essentially have a creative blank slate is still disappointing. To put it simply, if other fairy tale updates
can stretch childhood orphans into witch hunters, you have to question the
logic of cramming so many familiar elements into the narrative set-up; the
rebellious princess running from a duplicitous arranged marriage and falling
for a meek simpleton…thank god the giants showed up, because I was getting
ready to zone out. An equally
disappointing element involved the script’s treatment of its A-listers; Stanley
Tucci and Ewan McGregor clearly tried their best with the material they were
given and were, for the most part, entertaining, but Ian McShane has to be embarrassed. Maybe my negative opinion was mostly
influenced by the ludicrous and thoroughly embarrassing costume design the
royals within the film were forced to wear, but I have seen far better from the
actor, and he easily turns in the worst performance amongst the diverse
cast. So, even though none of the
shortcomings within Jack the Giant Slayer
are overtly damning, they still serve as blatant reminders that Warner Bros.’
newest project played it a little too safe and squandered the chance to take
some true creative risks that could have had a huge payout.
If you were to compare box office receipts against
narrative quality, the truth is that Jack
and the Giant Slayer deserved to be a modest success amongst moviegoers,
but current ticket sales promise nothing less than utter financial
disaster. Against a $195 million
production budget, barely covering a third of costs after nearly two weeks in
theaters is utterly pathetic, and momentum is going to completely stall once
all of March’s high profile releases are set loose. Any of the family fantasy audience Warner
Bros. hoped to attract that wasn’t drawn away by Oz, the Great and Powerful will flock to The Croods in the coming weeks, while older adventure audiences
will respond to Olympus has Fallen
and G.I. Joe: Retaliation. In terms of what went wrong, my only guess is
that unclear positioning prevented both the family and teenage demographic from
realizing that Jack the Giant Slayer
could actually provide something entertaining to both groups…but why in the
hell wasn’t the universal fairy tale more warmly received overseas and the
normally lucrative international market?
The final call is yours, but don’t let the thoroughly disappointing
financial performance and the lukewarm critical reception prevent you from
giving the latest fairy tale modernization a chance…you may end up falling
under the magic of the imaginative adventure after all.
Overall
Recommendation: Medium
